Hokey Skytrotter and the New Hope Stone
by Zimre Fa
Summary: What happens if you merge Star Wars with Harry Potter? Perhaps something like this...


**Chapter 1: The Boy Who Whined**

"But I don't want to do my chores," Hokey sulked. "I was gunna go to Toshi Bus Station and loiter around with my hood up and scare old people…"

"You can hang out with your friends when you've cleaned up that new mechanical owl we got from Jawa-Bay," replied his Uncle impatiently. "I want it up and running a.s.a.p."

Reluctantly, Hokey Skytrotter trudged out to the garage of their average-sized home set in the sprawling desert of Little Tatooinging. There was nothing for miles in any direction but sand and other average-sized homes all in little neat rows.

_Uncle never lets me have any fun_, he thought miserably. _He's so mean he even makes me sleep in the cupboard…_

In the corner of the garage stood the motionless form of the mechanical owl.

"Hello 2-it-2-U," Hokey called, and the little robot came to life with a whir and a soft hooting sound. "Let's get you cleaned up then…"

* * *

The next morning, Hokey woke to the sound of loud knocking on his cupboard door. Drowsily, he pulled himself out of bed and pushed the door open. His Uncle was standing there, his face red.

"Where is that owl?!" he shouted. Hokey blinked at him in confusion.

"In the garage, where I left him…"

"He's not there! He's gone! And _you_ left the garage door unlocked, so _you_ can go and find him!"

"I didn't leave it unlocked…" Hokey started to protest. His Aunt appeared from the kitchen with two glasses of blue milk.

"What's he done this time?" she tutted. "He's just like his father."

* * *

Hokey trudged down the street, calling for the owl.

"Two-it-Two-Yoo! Two-it-Two-Yoo!"

But there was no sign of the little mechanical bird. Dejected and desperate to find him, Hokey accidently wandered into a bad neighbourhood. All of a sudden, a huge scary-looking man stepped in front of him, blocking his way. Terrified, Hokey turned to run the other way, and found another mean-faced man standing behind him. Then more appeared, surrounding him.

_Gangpeople! _Hokey was terrified. He was finished. He could only stare in horror as the Gangpeople advanced menacingly.

Suddenly, the sound of a police car siren filled the air. The Gangpeople looked round sharply, then scattered in all directions. Hokey was left standing alone on the street corner, his knees still shaking. The siren grew louder – and then Hokey saw its source come into view. Bizarrely, it seemed to be an old man with a beard. Hokey stared at him in disbelief as he approached.

"Hello Hokey. Pleased to meet you. I am Bendledornobi. I am a Wizi. And so, one day, will you be."

Hokey gazed at the strange man for a moment, then turned and ran home as fast as he could.

* * *

Hokey could see the flames as soon as he turned onto his street. With a sinking feeling he ran the last few hundred yards and saw his house, burning so fiercely he could barely approach the garden gate.

"Uncle! Auntie!" he yelled helplessly as a fireman pulled him away to a safe distance. All at once he became aware that the strange old man was standing next to him – and on his shoulder was 2-it-2-U. Hokey looked up at him hopelessly. Bendledornobi placed a comforting arm around his shoulder.

"There wasn't anything you could have done, and 2-it-2-U would now be in the hands of the Slitherial Empire."

"The what?" Hokey sniffed.

"Come with me to HalldeWorts. I shall teach you the ways of the Wizi," Bendledornobi said.

"Suppose it beats Toshi Bus Station," Hokey said. "OK, let's get out of here."

* * *

Bendledornobi and Hokey stood at the entrance to a massive building with a glass roof and streams of people moving in all directions. 2-it-2U gave a chirping hoot from Ben's shoulder.

"King's Cross Eisley Spaceport," Ben started. "Never will you find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Come, we must be cautious…"

Once inside the main concourse, they looked up at the information screens to check the times of departing spacecraft.

"Aha! Here we go," Ben said. "HalldeWorts Express. Docking platform ninety-four and three-quarters."

Hokey eyed him incredulously. "How can you have three-quarters of a docking platform?"

"We walk through that wall!" Ben said, pointing.

"What? Don't be stupid."

"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them…" Ben said, and started marching straight for the wall. Before Hokey's astonished eyes, he vanished. Hokey shook his head and approached the wall cautiously. He peered at it suspiciously. All of a sudden, a hand appeared through the wall, grabbed his jacket, and yanked him through.

"Come on! We'll miss the spacetrain!" he heard Ben say impatiently. To Hokey's amazement, he was now standing on a docking platform that hadn't been there before. A large, but ugly, spaceship was parked in the centre of the platform, and hundreds of people were piling onto it.

"What a piece of junk!" Hokey exclaimed loudly.

"She'll make point-five past lightspeed," said a voice next to him. Hokey turned to see a red-haired boy of about his age grinning at him.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?"

"It's my ship. I'm the pilot," the boy replied. Just then, a bellow of anguish came from the direction of the ship. Hokey turned to see a very hairy, tall man-creature gesticulating at them from under the ship, where he was fiddling with and open access panel.

"All right, Hybrid, I'll be right there!" the boy called. He then extended his hand to Hokey. "I'm Ran Sleazy. Your Captain for today. And you are?"

Hokey took his hand. "Hokey Skytrotter." Ran grinned, then sprinted over to the ship to join Hybrid.

* * *

Once on board, Ben and Hokey strapped themselves into their seats and tried to get comfortable. 2-it-2U was placed in the overhead compartment for a snooze. Hokey picked up an in-flight magazine and attempted to read it. But his mind was far away. He was looking away, to the future, to the horizon. His mind wasn't on where he was, what he was doing. After attempting to read the same paragraph about in-flight entertainment about four or five times, he gave up and put the magazine away again.

Then Ran's voice came over the intercom.

"Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your Captain speaking. We've just got our clearance for departure, so we'll be on our way within the next few minutes. I would just like to take this opportunity to mention that for any passengers who mentioned that they would like to avoid any Slitherial entanglements, there is a supplementary charge of ten-thousand credits, payable on arrival."

There was a collective groan throughout the cabin. Ran continued: "Well, I'm just about to power up the sublight engines, so all that remains is to say, I hope you enjoy your flight and thank you for choosing the HalldeWorts Express."

Hokey gazed out of his small circular window as the engines came online with a surging roar, and then he felt the ship lurch as it lifted from the platform. Slowly it rose from the ground, swivelled, then with a mighty burst of acceleration that left Hokey pinned to his seat, the ship shot upwards, the ground receding at an alarming rate, until all he could see of Little Tatooinging was a yellow-brown ball. Then the stars became starlines, and he could no longer see his home planet at all.

To be continued…


End file.
